Race Report - Coastman Norway 2015
Thought I'd try my first report after going out asking ST for predictions:) To summarize I had a great day and really enjoyed my first IM (I guess enjoying an IM is a kinda twisted sort of enjoyment but I'm guessing that ST is one of the places that understands this:)) That was the short version - if you care for the long version read on.
RACE MORNING
Woke up at around 0415 and had a fairly small breakfast - oatmeal and two cups of coffee. Packed my stuff and drove to swimstart. Arrived at the start around 05:45, and had plenty of time to check my gear for the last time before check-in (in this event bike check-in was not the day before, like it normally is in IM-events). The weather was cold (11C), windy and rainy. I ride Veloflex Record tubular-tires on my bike, and since I have flatted 2 times (both when raining) the last month, i chose to bring an extra spare on my bike because of the rain (bringing 2 in total). Didn't want flats to prevent me from finishing my first IM!
Because of the weather I packed my T1-bag with a lot of different clothing, thinking I would make the final desiscion on what to wear after the swim. Checked my gear one last time and was ready to go! Body felt pretty good, but a bit nervous I have to admit.
SWIM
Swimstart was 0700 - the water was pretty decent for being way up here - around 14.5C - pretty OK for swimming with a wetsuit. Because of the wind the swim was moved from one side of the harbor to another, so despite the windy weather the swimming conditions were ok - definitely not calm waters but not to much chop. The swim was a 1900m loop we would swim twice. The northern 100m of the loop were exposed to weather, and had some waves but not to bad I'd say.
The start went well - and since the field was only about 60 ppl there was no washingmachine/bashing around for the first part - only 50 m of contact with others and then I was free! Amazing what this does to the feeling for the rest of the swim. I got to settle into my own rhythm without being short of breath. I swam at a pace I knew I could hold for a long time, and tried not to push it - Since I had never done a full before I figured that the few mins I might shave of my swim time by pushing the pace would take more out of me for later - so not worth it.
Finished the swim comfortably in 1:07. Good start to the day!
T1
The first transition was just by the swim-exit, so it was a nice, short transition. Only 100m or so to run from water to the changing tent. Got my suit of without any trouble, and slipped on my helmet, socks and cycling-shoes. For the occasion - having seen the forecast of wind and possible more rain throughout the day I actually chose my winter-cycling shoes to keep my toes from freezing. I also debated on whether or not to take my wind-jacket. I was pretty cold when I stripped of my suit. It was still only approx 12-13 C, raining and quite windy. It was either my 1-piece tri-suit without any sleeves or the wind-jacket over the tri-suit. I went with the latter, to make sure I would not start the bike freezing. As I'll get back to, I think this was a small mistake, but nothing major.
Exit T1 after 4:17 - was pretty efficient but room for improvement.
BIKE
The conditions were very windy at start, and would only get worse. The bike-course was a 4-loop out and back. We had strong headwind going out and tailwind back. The course was rolling all the way, and I immediately figured that the bike-leg would be tough. I had ridden the loop 1 month in advance in calm conditions. That time I did 1 loop of 45 k comfortably in 1:14:xx - (just over 36 km/hrs avg) at around my goal-wattage of 220. Today was a totally different story. The first loop I rode at a my goal-wattage, holding 216wAP/224w NP for the first loop, and it took 1:21 (iow 6-7 mins slower than my test-ride a month before in good conditions, where I held the same watts). I realized that my wind-jacket probably (even though it has quite a snug fit) caused quite a bit of drag, and I decided to throw it for the next tree loops. Turns out this saved me some time (I think). Because of the conditions I figured the bike leg would take a bit longer than I had planned (and hoped), so I decided to dial back my watts even another notch (also after listening to all the guys posting in here, I concluded that overbiking is a pretty common first IM-mistake, especially for someone like me: feeling like a pretty good biker wanting a good bike-split :))
I rode the next two loops at a steady output of around AP 205 / NP 210. After ditching my wind-jacket and focusing on getting low I managed to get my go a bit faster these laps even though I held back my watts. Went exactly 1:17:xx for both of the next two 45k laps.
Coming into the last lap I felt pretty good. Still - as the wind was ever-increasing I figured I should take the last lap even more easy to get my legs ready for the marathon (I heard talk about them measuring a steady 16 meter/second wind as the wind increased - thats a 36 mph wind! This felt crazy - mind you I was riding a disc and 60mm front). Finished the last loop at around 1:21 - holding around 190w AP - 200w NP.
Nutrition had been going as planned on the bike. I brought 3x750ml of liquid nutrition (about 450 kcal pr bottle), and I had 4 home-made energy-bars that work for me (each at around 150 kcal). The plan was to do 1 bar pr loop, and get down the first two bottles of liquid on the first two loops. After that i planned on getting in some water and the last liquid on laps 3 and 4. This worked wonderfully, and I even felt the thist to grab one of the race-organizers bottles of sports-drink on the last loop and get that down as well. I also supplemented with 2 bananas handed out at aid stations. I figure I took in somewhere around 1800 - 2000 kcal on the bike.
Total time for the bike was 5:19 - 203 AP / 216 NP. The course was about 1,5k to long, because of the moved swim (they had to move T1/T2, which meant another 6-700m transport-section on bike before we got onto the originally planned route). My Fenix 3 logged about 2 100m elevation for the bike, but I think this is a bit high. I think the real number is closer to 1200 - 1500 m.
T2
Coming into T2 I felt pretty fresh, having been able to hold back on the bike. Racked my bike, left my helmet and switched to my running shoes. I had debated with my self if I should run in my altras One 2.0 or the heavier, but more cushioned Brooks Pure Flow. I actually had both shoes in my T2-bag. I went with the Brooks, thinking this would leave me less exposed to having busted legs after 15k.
I was out of T2 in about 2 min - pretty much as quickly as I could manage.
RUN
The marathon was the one part of the IM I had no idea of how I'd fare. I've ran two open mary's before (3:26 and 3:21), and felt shot from 25-30k and out. I wondered if I'd feel the same in the IM-mary from 5-10K. If so - I was in for a long run!
My one big focus coming into the run was not to go out to hard. I felt great from the first step, and caught myself getting to eager. I realized this when my garmin beep'ed for the first K - 4:33. way to fast! I slowed way down and ran the next few k's in 5 - 5:15. This felt really comfortable, and I decided to just try hold this for as long as I could.
The run began with a 12k stretch, after that there was an out-back section of 10 k to be run 3 times. The first 17k was run into the headwind. While the wind was definitely less of a factor than the bike, the wind still felt annoying. On the other hand my body actually felt great - and my 5:15/k pace felt comfortable - for now:) After around 15-20k the pace started to feel heavier - I had probably slowed to around 5:30/k. However, I felt my legs should be able to keep the pace, but it got more and more mentally challenging to hold the pace. At this point, I also - for the first time - started feeling that it was hard to take in fluids and food. For the run I had planned on gels and bananas, and coke+water. This was fine up until 20k, but felt harder after this. I decided to stick with bananas and some coke, but I had to take it really easy after the aid stations - felt like the intake had to "settle" abit in my stomach before I could return to the pace I wanted to hold. This worked ok, and I was able to keep running (as opposed to walking). At around 22k something wierd happened - I suddenly felt fresh again! My pace didn't pick notably up - but mentally I started to feel confident that I would be able to keep my pace pretty much steady the last 20 k! This feeling lasted about 6-7-8 k, before I gradually felt more fatigued. I also had to take a few stops in the portable toilets - had to get rid of some fluids! I also started to allow my self to walk 50 m at a time every time I crossed a high bridge on the out-back section (I walked a steep section with heavy wind). This lead to a couple of slow km-s for the last half, but as long as I stayed running i held my pace around 5:30-5:45. I felt quite good about the fact that I was able to stay running (mostly), and that I kept my pace pretty good.
The last 2-3k I felt just absolutley amazing - I knew the finish was just 15 min away, and I had completed my first IM without any major issues! The last 2.5 K I actually managed to pick up my pace back to 5:05 pr K! This definitely felt tougher than the pace I had been holding just before, but it made me think that I probably have a lot of room for improvement in terms of pushing the pace (but - that's for the next one when I have some sort of idea what I'm up against!). Finished the run in under 4 hrs, which was a little slower than I had hoped for but a lot faster than I had feared!
Run 3:57. Fenix 3 logged about 450m elevation for the run course. This also - probably a bit high - but not by that much. The course was slightly up and down all the way, with 6 crossings of a taaaall bridge.
Total time: 10:30.
AFTER THE RACE
After the race I felt fantatic. Body was naturally worn down, but it felt great having finished! The think I am most happy about is that i performed to my abilities - I had a pretty decent plan and was able to stick to it (mostly!). This was a great feeling! Sure - I might have been able to push the pace abit more on the run, but at the time I felt happy enough to just being able to keep running and finishing!
Also - as another bonus - I won the event:) I had a pretty good lead at 20k in the run, and this was probably also something that mentally kept me satisfied - no need to push more than I needed to keep my placing:)
To summarize I am super happy about my first IM. I figure I would have biked quite a bit faster if the conditions had been better (dry roads from the start and no wind), but I definitely think sub 10 would have been a long shot! I am guessing some 15 min + faster on the bike in better conditions, so I still have some time to make up for on the run. Probably I can pick up a few minutes by getting mentally tougher, but getting in some more run-milage definatley will help! I never ran any much more than 30 - 50k / during training for the IM. I guess this will have to be ramped up pretty much if I am to get my run-split down towards 3:30 :)